Ross Bjork labels Ohio State a 'championship brand'

Ohio State has its new athletic director in Ross Bjork. As he enters the role, he’s excited about being able to work at a school that he labeled as having a championship brand.

He explained that Ohio State has one of the best brands in college athletics and that’s something that everyone, regardless of where they are in the country, knows.

“In college athletics, there’s championship brands, there’s sort of fighter brands that are trying to fight their way,” Ross Bjork said. “Championship brand. Period.”

Prior to Ross Bjork coming to Ohio State, the role was held by Gene Smith. He held the role since 2005. During that time, the Buckeyes were the premier athletic school within the Big Ten. That included winning 105 teams winning conference championships under his tenure. Meanwhile, 24 teams won national titles.

Then, you take the person in Gene Smith and the legacy that he’s built, you take the championship pedigree and the facts that championships have been won here, you take the business side of it and the enterprise it’s viewed as number one. Number two, however you want to rank it, it’s up there as the top athletic department,” Bjork said.

“And then I know what the university stands for. The family has been wearing Buckeye shirts around family reunions. So, I know that if you’re from this state, it doesn’t leave you. So, you understand that, the magnitude of it, and you have to embrace that and that’s what we’ll do.”

While Ohio State’s brand remains strong, there are plenty of changes coming to the Big Ten and college athletics as a whole amid things like conference realignment, the Transfer Portal, and NIL. Now, it’s Ross Bjork’s job to see the Buckeyes through those changes.

Ross Bjork ‘fully aware’ of Ohio State’s rivalry with the ‘Team Up North’

As one of the biggest brands in college athletics, Ohio State’s rivalry with Michigan is one of the best known in all of college sports. That’s especially true for Ross Bjork, who is fully aware of the team up North.

“Who? Yeah, I gotcha. Team up North. Is it the school up North, the team up North…Okay, it’s the team. Yes, fully [aware]. Again, if you grew up a football fan, I grew up in Southwest Kansas and it was typically Oklahoma–Nebraska on TV at the end of the year, and it was Michigan and Ohio State, and it was USC–UCLA. Those are the games that were on TV back then when I grew up,” Bjork said.

“So, obviously again, if you follow my mom on Facebook, she has more posts about Ohio State than Texas A&M. So, of course, I’m aware of The Game.”